Recommended
Ripatti03 // Vladislav Delay
Label: Ripatti
Format: Limited 12”
Release Date: 17/03/14
The number of artists setting up labels dedicated to servicing their own material seems to have risen significantly in recent years. For Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti aka Vladislav Delay (and countless other alias’) this may have come at a certain price, namely the added stress of having to deal with the often unreliable manufacturing process. For the most part though, the establishment of his ‘Ripatti’ imprint has been an excellent move, affording him the creative freedom to explore some of his most experimental ideas to date, and this is saying something given how abstract some of his previous releases have been.
The latest 12” in the vinyl-only series, ‘Ripatti03’, comprises the first offering on the label under Ripatti’s possibly best known alias, Vladislav Delay. The style of both tracks included is reminiscent of his Vantaa and _Kuopio _albums, yet it seems defined in more forceful terms here, wild, off-grid polyrhythms in central focus.
A-side ‘#5’ sees muffled vocals fighting against Ripatti’s mess of fractured ambience, sounding like a Tim Hecker track processed through a series of severe noise gates, tremolos and delays. As the track transitions between sections around the midway mark, this harsh processing subsides temporarily, revealing shivering swathes of synthesiser, before abruptly launching back into a stuttered frenzy of footwork drums and jolting, fuzz-laden samples.
On the flip, ‘#22’ takes a sharper, less dense approach without loosing any of the a-side’s maniacal, off-kilter appeal. Vocals steadily rise in the track’s backdrop before being suppressed by anarchic drums, which seem to fill every available space. Ripatti once again leaves space to hint at a subdued foundation to ‘#22’. Shimmering samples chime above sparse, reverberating toms, before we are mercilessly flung back into the chaos once again.
- Published
- Mar 22, 2014
- Credits
- Words by Theo Darton-Moore